


Trick Or Treat Yo Self

by stevergrsno (noxlunate)



Series: Happy Steve Bingo Fills [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Halloween, Happy Steve Bingo, M/M, halloween decorations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 09:03:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16059878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noxlunate/pseuds/stevergrsno
Summary: Bucky doesn't get Steve's newthingfor decorating for the holidays.At least he doesn’t get it until he finds Steve the week before Labor Day, affixing red, white, and blue banners to their awning and exchanging glares with Mr. Horowitz across the street. Mr. Horowitz is emphatically wrapping red, white, and blue streamers around the railing of his porch.“Are we trying to beat them?” Bucky asks while Steve unfurls what looks like about four dozen tiny American flags.“No. Of course not.” Steve says in the way that means‘Yes, of course we are, don’t be an idiot.’Aka Steve gets a little intense about holiday decorations. Like, just a little.





	Trick Or Treat Yo Self

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my fill for "Outdoing The Neighbors (In Decoration)" for the Happy Steve Bingo! It's a fun little romp and I hope you like it ^_^

The thing that Bucky has learned since rejoining the 21st century as a semi functional, free thinking, free will having human being is that Steve gets  _ intense  _ about holidays these days. And not even just for the normal holidays to get intense about, like Christmas. No, the asshole pulls out Thanksgiving decorations and Valentine’s Day and Easter decorations and goddamn  _ Arbor Day  _ decorations. 

Bucky is  _ baffled  _ by it. Because it’s not like holiday decorating had been a particularly big thing when they were living their lives the first time around. There hadn’t been spare change or spare time for Steve to whip up a to scale chalk art masterpiece of the globe for Earth Day. So he doesn’t get it. 

At least he doesn’t get it until he finds Steve the week before Labor Day, affixing red, white, and blue banners to their awning and exchanging glares with Mr. Horowitz across the street. Mr. Horowitz is emphatically wrapping red, white, and blue streamers around the railing of his porch. 

“Are we trying to  _ beat  _ them?” Bucky asks while Steve unfurls what looks like about four dozen tiny American flags. 

“No. Of course not.” Steve says in the way that means  _ ‘Yes, of course we are, don’t be an idiot.’  _

Bucky nods and when Steve needs help with the string of lights, each one shaped like a tiny American flag, he helps. 

 

Bucky doesn’t think about it again until the middle of September rolls around and he finds Steve furiously clicking around on their shared laptop at 3 in morning. 

“Do you think a fog machine would be going overboard?” Steve asks, frowning at the computer screen. 

“Huh?” He mumbles and tips himself forward, sprawling out over Steve’s back and peering over his shoulder at the computer screen. There’s a whole lot of orange and black going on and it’s more than a little irritating to the eye. 

“No. We are not decorating for Halloween yet.  _ No.”  _

“I’m not decorating.  _ Yet.  _ I just have to order the stuff first. Mrs. Horowitz came home with a car full of decorations today.” 

“Are you stalking the Horowitzes now? Is that a thing we’re doing? Are we actually certifiable now? I’m the only crazy allowed in this relationship Steve, you know that.” 

“I wasn’t stalking them. She asked for help unloading the car. I think she’s trying to rub it in my face that they’ve got a head start.”  

“In  _ September.  _ Not even the end of September! That’s not a head start, that’s lunacy.” 

Steve adds the fog machine to the cart and Bucky groans, knowing arguing will be futile. 

 

The Horowitzes are  _ baiting  _ Steve. Bucky can feel it. They’re baiting Steve and it’s  _ working.  _

On October 1st they step out onto their porch to drink their morning coffee and enjoy the not-quite-fresh New York City air and the Horowitz house is covered in fake spider webs and strings of light that twinkle in the soft dawn light. A tiny tombstone grave has filled what passes as a lawn and a lifesize Captain America zombie is standing over it all. Steve is visibly restraining himself from storming into the house and dragging every bit of decoration out from where it’s accumulated over the last few months in their living room. 

“Steve?” 

“Yeah Buck?” 

“I think we need to go buy some more decorations.” Bucky says gravely, meeting Mrs. Horowitz’s challenging gaze across the street with one of his own. They’re  _ going down.  _

 

The giant banner proclaiming they’ve reached  _ SPIRIT HALLOWEEN  _ is nearly blinding in it’s brightness, but when they enter the store itself it seems well worth the trip there. Even if it’s only because Steve seems to light up as he makes a beeline for the decorations. 

“Hi! Is there anything I can help you with?” A younger woman with  _ ‘Kate’  _ on her name tag asks, fiddling with a display holding fake spiderwebs. 

“I think we’re good?” Bucky turns the words into a question as he looks to Steve, who nods firmly once and starts loading things into the cart. “Yeah, we’re good. He’s just in some weird competition with the neighbors.” 

The woman nods with the depth of understanding that only comes from dealing with the same sort of idiots. “My girlfriend’s the same way.” She says, proving Bucky right. 

“A crazy person ?” Bucky questions, glancing towards Steve with a fond look. 

“A hyper competitive crazy person.” Kate agrees with a grin before letting them know to give a holler if they need anything and wandering back off while Steve’s loading ten three bottles of fake blood into the cart. 

“Is this really necessary?” Bucky asks, twenty minutes later while staring at the animatronic zombie family that Steve’s attempting to load into the cart that feels much too small for it. 

“ _ Yes. _ ” Steve says and apparently decides to carry the damn thing under his arm instead of trying to wrestle it into the cart. 

 

Things get shuffled around as the month progresses, a decoration added, signs changed out, fake spiderwebs replaced, but by the time Halloween itself and most importantly, trick-or-treaters arrive it’s as perfect as Steve can make it. 

The fog machine is going and an archway over their front gate has been erected, the sign at the top proclaiming that visitors have reached the Barnes-Rogers Home For Lost Souls. Ghosts hang from the trees, signs that Steve painted himself are up and bear phrases like “HOPE YOU HAVE A GHOULISHLY GOOD HALLOWEEN”, a set of tombstones have been carefully made and painted by Steve and don pun filled names, pumpkin shaped string lights twinkle, and Steve has strategically turned black paper into cat eyes that glow from their downstairs window. 

It’s… Well, it’s  _ cute,  _ and just spooky enough. It’s a toned down version of what Steve had had erected before, because the man’s a goddamn saint and claims they can’t have anything  _ too  _ creepy when the younger kids come along. 

The real star of the show though, at least to the kids that trail in long lines up to their doorstep, is  _ Steve.  _ He’s dressed as The Winter Soldier, decked out in Bucky’s black tactical gear, his arm painted with silver paint and a bright red star on the bicep. 

(“You’re supposed to dress as something you love.” Steve had said with a wink, carefully painting his entire arm with metallic body paint. 

“I don’t think that’s actually how it works, pal.” Bucky had said, pulling on the fuzzy raccoon onesie that Steve insisted wasn’t a valid costume, “And I also think you’re just lazy and forgot to work on a costume because you were too distracted with beating the Horowitzes so you just decided to steal my uniform instead.” 

“Lies and slander.  _ Lies. And. Slander.”  _ Steve had insisted, and then “C’mon, help me paint the back of my arm.”) 

He’s still  _ very _ obviously Captain America however, a fact that seems to delight roughly 60% of the children under 14 that show up on their doorstep for candy. The other 40% are already true New Yorkers and thus Don’t Care, or they have no idea who the hell they’re getting candy from and just care that they’re getting Captain America sized fist fulls of full sized candy. 

Bucky had been told before the night even started that Steve didn’t expect him to stay out with him the whole time, that if Bucky got overwhelmed by the amount of people he could go inside or leave or whatever he needed and Steve wouldn’t be upset, but Bucky doesn’t even feel the urge. Instead, he spends the whole time Steve’s passing out candy curled up on the bench on their front stoop, helping pass out candy and watching Steve interact with every single kid that approaches their door, giving each and every one of them his stupid, sincere Steve Rogers smile. 

Most of the moms and more than a few of the dads seem to swoon at the sight of it and Bucky  _ gets it.  _

 

When it’s all over with they’ve gone through more candy than Bucky ever imagined possible and also surely beat the Horowitzes next door for Best House On The Block. 

Steve is practically glowing with satisfaction and Bucky has a phone full of pictures of Steve with every single person- child  _ and  _ adult, that had showed up dressed as Captain America. All in all, Bucky’s calling it a Very Good Night. 

“That was fun,” He murmurs as he faceplants into the bed, still in his his costume while Steve strips out of combat gear and attempts to wipe the paint off his arm. Commenting on how his costume was clearly superior for this very reason seems a little cruel even if it would be appropriate in this instance.

“Mmmh, it was.” Steve agrees, seeming to give up and flopping next to Bucky, his arm still half covered in paint and tac pants still on. 

“Next year we’ll go even bigger. They won’t know what hit ‘em.” Bucky says, voice muffled on the last few words as he shoves his face firmly into Steve’s shoulder. 

“Damn right they won’t.” 

 

The next morning they take down the decorations for Halloween and decorate for Thanksgiving, Bucky and Steve both exchanging dark looks with Mr. Horowitz as the man arranges a giant cornucopia. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this come scream about stuff with me on [ tumblr!](http://stevergrsno.tumblr.com)


End file.
